Dog the Bounty Hunter is in hot water again.
Dog the Bounty Hunter Duane Chapman (R) and wife Beth Smith pose for pictures before the Felix "Tito" Trinidad of Cupey Alto, Puerto Rico and Roy Jones JR, Special Light Heavyweight Attraction boxing match at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, 19 January 2008. EPA/JASON SZENES
The A&E star is being sued by an actor who says he created the Dog the Bounty Hunter reality TV program.
The lawsuit is hitting show's producers for at least $5 million allegedly owed in royalties, salary and other compensation.
Boris Krutonog of Los Angeles says the A&E Television Networks and others failed to compensate him for the fourth season of the show as its creator and co-executive producer.
Filming for the fifth season has begun.
Producers allegedly also have failed to give Krutonog accountings of money earned from home video, TV syndication and other sources, according to his papers filed this week in Manhattan's state Supreme Court.
TMZ.com reports Krutonog complains in court papers that he was the target of "abusive, violent and outrageous conduct" and "episodes of psychotic behavior by" the show's stars, Duane "Dog" Chapman and his wife Beth.
Krutonog alleges A&E, television producer David Houts and his companies, Hybrid Films Inc. and D&D Television Productions Inc., breached their contract with him. He seeks compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.
Krutonog, a Russian-born actor who had roles in "The Hunt for Red October"
Believing that Chapman's exploits could be the premise of a movie or a television show, Krutonog signed contracts with Chapman and received the exclusive right to develop the program, court papers say.
Between 1995 and 2003, Krutonog developed what ultimately became "Dog the Bounty Hunter", court papers say.
They say that to get his consent to produce and air the show, A&E agreed to pay him as co-executive producer "for the life of the program."
Your Talkback on this Story